


Set the needle on its path...

by chaletian



Series: The Once + Future King [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen, Modern Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-26
Updated: 2012-12-26
Packaged: 2017-11-22 11:14:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/609222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaletian/pseuds/chaletian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's terrible beer. They've got no idea, not any more. Brewing is an art. Merlin scowls into his glass. The King's Arms used to serve... actually, the King's Arms, in all its incarnations, has always had piss poor beer, even when it was a hedge tavern by a lake, when Arthur's name still lived on people's tongues. Regardless. Merlin always comes back to the King's Arms when times are bad, when Albion is in need, even though, so far, bloody Albion has apparently not been in enough bloody need.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Set the needle on its path...

There's been a version of the King's Arms near the bottom of Glastonbury Tor for years. Merlin sits at the bar and Kelly gets him a pint. He doesn't speak, just plucks at his beard and glares a bit. Nobody pays any attention. It's Glastonbury, after all. Weird old men in beards and cloaks aren't exactly a novelty. Merlin's been coming to this King's Arms for... well, he can't remember. A century or two. Or three. Or four. He thinks the horse brasses on the wall might be new. Sixty years ago there'd been a big war – had the horse brasses been there then? Fact is, it doesn't matter. (Yes, he remembers now. Round the time of the Jacobite rebellions; old King's Arms burnt down in a fire (stables left unattended); new King's Arms built shortly after; still standing.)

Merlin comes back to the King's Arms because he hopes – he knows – that one day, when Albion is in need, Arthur will return. Arthur _will_ return. Merlin nods his head, and Kelly brings him another pint. It's terrible beer. They've got no idea, not any more. Brewing is an art. Merlin scowls into his glass. King's Arms used to serve... actually, the King's Arms, in all its incarnations, has always had piss poor beer, even when it was a hedge tavern by a lake, when Arthur's name still lived on people's tongues. Regardless. Merlin always comes back to the King's Arms when times are bad, when Albion is in need, even though, so far, bloody Albion has apparently not been in enough bloody need.

And it's not like Merlin doesn't have better things to do. There are always evil plots afoot, scheming to be done, enemies to be vanquished. He's got a busy schedule.

But times are bad. There have been bad times before. From Merlin's perspective, it's been a kaleidoscope of bad times: foreign wars and civil wars and famine and plague and discontent. There have been riots and massacres, popular uprisings and stock market crashes. Frankly, Merlin's been starting to think that the only thing that will get Arthur to reappear is the actual apocalypse, at which point surely even Arthur would be pretty ineffective. (21 December 2012 goes by without Arthur turning up; Merlin feels vindicated; he always knew the Mayans were all talk and no trousers.)

It's different now. It feels different now. People are scared. The country is full of men and women with suits and clipboard, with little computers that can identify anyone. People aren't allowed to work the wrong kind of job or live in the wrong kind of place or marry the wrong kind of person. People are tracked everywhere, for their own safety, the politicians say. It's all for people's own safety, every little erosion of liberty, every encroachment of freedom, and Merlin hasn't seen anything like this before. He's not concerned for himself. There's nothing this world can do to him, not now, not any more. But people are scared.

He pulls his beard and drinks his piss poor beer, and listens to the hush in the King's Arms (maybe the horse brasses were there after all when they rebuilt after the fire).

The pub door opens and a man comes in. Firelight gleams gold in his hair.

Merlin's beard has gone, and he is young again.


End file.
